Isabel Vercauteren

Isabel Vercauteren is CEO and co-founder of Aphea.Bio, a leading R&D company developing the next-generation biological products based on naturally occurring microorganisms.

Since its launch in 2017, Aphea.Bio has taken a huge leap in the development of biological products. The company, with headquarters in Ghent, Belgium, has built a unique, high-throughput R&D platform for the isolation, culturing, identification and validation of novel microorganisms that improve crop health and fitness. It’s their ambition to make a clear impact on modern agriculture and to move towards a more healthy and sustainable food system.

Between 2008 and 2016 Vercauteren was employed at Bayer CropScience where she held different positions within the R&D organization with a strong focus on alliance management, technology licensing and new venture management. Before joining Bayer, she worked for four years at DevGen (acquired by Syngenta in 2013) as project manager responsible for various R&D projects.

She has strong expertise in plant biotechnology research, technology valuation and licensing, business development, deal making & negotiation, and project management. She holds a Ph.D. in plant molecular biology and a postgraduate in Biosafety and Regulatory in Plant Biotechnology from the University of Ghent.